Franklin w



Patented Apr; 4, I899.

F W. BRUOKS.

S E A L (Applicatioh filed Jan. 23, 1999.

(No Model.)

STATES PATENT FRANKLIN \V. BROOKS, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THECOLUMBIA SEAL LOCK COMPANY, OF WVASI-IINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 622,599, dated April 4,1899. Appliontionfiled January 23, 1899. Serial No. 703,159. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN W. BROOKS,

a citizen of the United States, residingin the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sealsfor Cars, Baggage, &c., of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement upon the seal which is the subject of myLetters Patent No. 580,763, of April 13, 1897.

The improvements are designed to simplify and cheapen the constructionof the seal itself and to provide means which will permit station-marksor other identifying-marks to be readily impressed upon the body of theseal at the time it is applied and put into use.

The improvements will first be described in connection with the drawingsaccompanying and forming part of this specification, and will then bemore particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of the seal complete.Fig. 2 is a face view of the same, showing in dotted lines the positionand arrangement of the parts contained within the casing when theshackle is in locked position. Fig. 3 is a back View of the device withthe cover'or back plate B broken away to expose the interior parts. Fig.4 is a section on line 4 4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of theshackle detached.

The sheet-metal casing A is combined with a cover or back plate B. In itis crimped the central longitudinal rib D, and it is also provided withpassages a, one on each side of the rib D, for the entrance of theshackle F, provided at its ends with locking-hooks b, adapted to engageand interlock with the ends of the locking spring or device E, which lieone on each side of the rib D. In all these respects the sealin a broadsense is the same as that described and claimed in my aforesaid LettersPatent. 1 have, however, improved the construction and arrangement ofits parts in the following particulars: The casing A is crimped orstruck up with a circumscribing flat flange m, upon and around which isbent and crimped the overlapping edge 12 of the cover or back plate B.In this way the two parts are readily and securely united,while thefinished casing, composed of the two parts thus united, is provided witha circumscribing stiffening flange, which strengthens the device, servesmeasurably to protect the same, and at the same time provides a surfacewhich will serve as a guide to the ends of the shackle in the operationof entering the same into the passages a of the casing.

The rib D, which divides the casing A 6o lengthwise into two passages.9, stops a little short of the top of the casing,where the openings aare formed, leaving within the casing a constricted passage 1) at thetop, which is located at a point between the shackle-openings a andopens into and joins the two 1011- gitudinal passages 8. By thisconstruction I am enabled to use as a locking device a simplespring-metal strip or wire E, which is merely bent into the form of abow, as shown. The bend of the bow is contained in the constrictedpassage 19, passing over the upper end of the rib D, between it and thetop of the casing, while its legs extend down, one on each side of therib D, into the side passages s in such position that when the shackle Fis in place in the casing they will engage the hooks b on the shackle.

The set of the spring-acting legs of the bent strip E is such that thelegs spread apart and normally stand in the path of the ends of theshackle. When the shackle is pushed into the casing, its ends meet thelegs of the springstrip E and. push them inwardly or toward the rib D,this continuing until the hooks b, which are formed on the interioropposite edges of the legs of the shackle, come opposite to the ends ofthe spring-strip, which ends then spring outwardlyinto engagement withthe hooks, thus locking the shackle in place. 0

The shackle itself I prefer to form of flat sheet metal, as shown. It isscored at the points 25, where it is to be broken when it is (le siredto remove the seal, and, as before said, the hooks b are cut or formedon the interior opposite edges of its legs, at or near the lower endthereof.

The rib D extends part way only of the length of the case, so as toleave at the bot tomof the case or that part of the case at the roeopposite end from where the shackle enters an independent portion g,upon which can be impressed any such marks as it may be desired to applyat the time the seal is put into use. At this point there is interposedbetween the front and back walls of the case a filling or wad h of somematerial-such, for example, as paper or pasteboardwhich will offer ayielding resistance to the tool or handstamping device used to impressthe mark upon the case. lhe filling is necessary, because without it thewalls of the case would break down under the pressure of the indentingor markingtool; but at the same time the filling material'must bemeasurably yielding, so as to permit the marks to be indented into thesheet metal of which the case is composed. In this Way thestation-master, with a simple hand-indenting device or stamp, canimpress the desired station-mark or other identifying-mark into thesheet metal of the case itself at the time of applying the seal, thusavoiding the use of any auxiliary tags for the purpose or theapplication to the seal of lead or other soft-metal extraneous materialto furnish a marking-surface. In Fig. 2 this portion of the seal isshown by way of illustration as indented with the stationmark 21.

Having described my improvement and the best Way'now known to me ofcarrying the same into effect, what I claim herein as new, and desire-t0secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The sheet-metal casing A and cover or back plate B crimped together,the casing having a circumscribing flange m, shackleopenings at, and ribD, stopping short of the top of the casin g to form the side passages Son the prolongation of the shackle-openings a, and top communicatingpassage 19 intermediate of said shackle-openings, and the bowed springlocking-strip E, passing over the top of the rib D, with its legsextendingjdown on each side thereof one into each passage 3, in positionto engage the hooked ends of the shackle, substantially as and for thepurposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. The sheet-metal lock-case provided with shackle-openings and passagesand a spring lockin g device for the ends of the shackle as described,and provided also with an interspace g, and a filling or wad h, thereforcomposed of a material which will offer yielding resistance to pressure,substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day ofJanuary, 1899.

a FRANKLIN \V. BROOKS.

Vitnesses:

EWELL A. DICK, E. HUME TALBERT.

